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Strategies & Market Trends : Strictly: Drilling II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank Pembleton who wrote (4240)	11/20/2001 8:23:05 AM
From: Frank Pembleton	Respond to of 36161

Moves in gold dampened by lack of market interest LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Movements in European gold prices were again suppressed by an absence of interest, poor economic data and the prospect of a three-day week over on COMEX and NYMEX, traders said on Tuesday morning. By 1110 spot gold was last at $273.90/274.40 an ounce, climbing quietly up from the New York close on Monday at $272.50/273.00 an ounce. The metal clambered a modest 15 cents on Tuesday morning to reach a fix of $273.75 an ounce, compared with $273.60 on Monday afternoon. ``Gold has come back a little this morning. It got to the $272.00 level yesterday, which is support and a bit of buying came in. It's possible that some of it was producer buy backs,'' a trader said. This could reflect prospects of a three-way multi billion dollar merger deal between U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM - news), Australia's Normany Mining Ltd (Australia:NDY.AX - news) and Canada's Franco-Nevada Mining Corp Ltd (Toronto:FN.TO - news). A weaker euro has also done little to help gold's case, as the metal's traditional safe-haven role in times of crisis also appears to have had its day. On Monday the euro headed lower, dragging gold with it as the Bundesbank said in its November monthly report that Germany sae almost no growth in the third quarter, marking the second straight quarter of stagnation. However, the European currency received a welcome boost on Tuesday after China announced its central bank had increased the proportion of euros it holds in its foreign exchange reserves and would continue to do so. The dollar was trading at 0.8822 against $0.8786 at the New York close and off its recent three month highs against the single currency. However, despite a slightly stronger euro, traders remained sceptical of gold's ability to hold above $274.00 an ounce as the week progressed. ``Whether it can hold above $274.00 for the rest of the week does not look good. All it needs is bad economic data to push it back down and off we go again,'' a trader said. Silver looked to be gaining little respite as it headed lower on Tuesday morning. Any price rises in silver over the last week were largely thanks to announcements in producer cut-backs in copper, traders said. But with the rally in base metals now over, silver is seen retreating to its lows. ``As silver is mostly an industrial metal with many of the same applications as copper, recently reinstated silver spec shorts were obviously nervous. Any weakness in copper may see silver back on its lows,'' UBS Warburg analyst John Reade said in a daily report. Spot silver was at $4.09/4.11 an ounce, up from $4.07/4.09 at the last New York close. Elsewhere, platinum returned to highs of around $440.00 an ounce seen at the beginning of last week, pulled higher by gains on TOCOM overnight A flicker of interest returned to the PGM market, with palladium also looking firmer in the near-term, traders said. However, traders warned that any price rallies in either metal could be relatively short-lived, with many expecting to see some producer selling returning to the market sooner rather than later. ``We expect to see some selling very soon from one source or another. Prices are getting there now, so some selling is likely to return, which will see platinum drift back towards $420.00,'' one said. Spot platinum was quoted higher at $438.00/443.00. up around $10 from $428.00/435.00 at the last New York close. Spot palladium was also up at $333.00/343.00, against the closing level in New York of $330.00/340.00. biz.yahoo.com

To: Frank Pembleton who wrote (4240)	11/20/2001 1:06:12 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36161

re: Argentina debt: Imagine that the bank holding my mortgage couldn't take my house if I stopped sending them checks every month. Imagine that the only thing they could do is threaten to not lend me any more money, and try to get other banks not to lend (any more) to me. If this were so, then I could send them a letter like this: Dear mortgage company: I just bought a new car for my wife, and spent a lot of money on Christmas presents, to keep my wife happy. If I hadn't done that, she probably would have thrown me out of the house. She's demanding and unpredictable, so I really didn't have any choice. I know, I promised last year, that I'd cut my expenses, but things change. Anyway, since the mortgage is in my name, I doubt she would be willing to make any payments. So, it's in your best interests to help me out here. As a result of all my spending, I find myself unable to make this month's mortgage payments. However, if you work with me, by reducing the interest from 6 1/2% to 4%, I think I can continue paying. For now, anyway. I'm willing to be flexible. If you don't want to reduce the interest rate, perhaps you would prefer to write off 1/3 of the loan, if I promise (cross my heart and hope to die, scout's honor) that I'll pay the new, lower amount. For now, anyway. Another thing we might consider is asking for government help. The government wants to keep me in my house, and keep you solvent, and avoid unpleasantness of all kinds, so maybe they would be willing to help us both. If you can arrange a government loan to me equal to my mortgage payments, then I can guarantee continuing to pay my obligations in full. And I'll keep on doing that, as long as the government is willing to keep sending me money, in new loans or forgiving old loans or any other way they want to do it. As long as the money coming to me every month from new loans is more than my payments on old loans, I'll be a good debtor. For now, anyway. Sincerely, Jake (the snake) Snyder